Woolworths MarketPlus had plenty of useful performance data. The problem was that the people who could act on it couldn’t always see it.
Part of Woolworths Group, Australia’s largest retailer, Woolworths MarketPlus includes some of the country’s most recognized marketplace brands, including BIG W Market, Everyday Market, and Everyday Rewards.
Its customer service teams operate across Melbourne, Sydney, and Manila. Keeping everyone aligned and maintaining consistently high standards across three locations meant agents and team leaders needed a clear view of how they were performing throughout the day.
For Kieran Boyce, General Manager of Operations, it became increasingly important to get that information in front of the right people while there was still time to respond.
Critical information was stuck inside Zendesk
Woolworths MarketPlus runs its customer service operation through Zendesk, but its reporting was only available to licensed users.
That meant frontline agents couldn’t easily see how they were tracking day to day. Team leaders also needed a better way to share changes in ticket volumes, response times, and customer feedback across the operation.
“The information was critical, but it was stuck in Zendesk. We needed real-time insights that anyone could see, from agents to executives.”
For a large, distributed support team, an end-of-day view wasn’t enough. Team leaders needed to know when tickets were starting to age or service levels were changing so they could respond there and then.
Making performance visible across the support operation
Woolworths MarketPlus introduced Geckoboard dashboards showing ticket throughput, response times, resolution rates, and customer satisfaction.
Agents and team leaders could now see how they were performing throughout the day. Kieran’s team also brought in information from CRM systems, NPS surveys, and Google Sheets, so each dashboard reflected what that team needed to know.
They created dashboards for the frontline teams running the operation, along with broader views for senior leaders. Important performance information was no longer limited to people with the right Zendesk access.
Giving ownership to frontline leaders
Kieran originally built every dashboard himself, but over time that changed.
“There was a time when I made every dashboard myself… the team owns it now.”
Team leaders took responsibility for their dashboards and the measures displayed on them. They could shape what their teams saw, spot when something needed attention, and respond without waiting for Kieran to prepare or explain an update.
Agents had a clearer view of their own performance too. They didn’t have to wait for a manager to tell them how things were going. They could see it for themselves and adjust as the day unfolded.
Catching problems while they could still be fixed
With performance visible throughout the day, team leaders could spot potential problems early and respond before they escalated.
They could step in when tickets began aging, move work around when demand changed, and make decisions based on what was happening at that moment.
The effect was felt across the operation.
“Team performance has improved, customer satisfaction improves, and we see higher team satisfaction too.”
Kieran says the customer service teams are now consistently among the most satisfied teams in the business.
The dashboards gave everyone a shared understanding of performance. Teams knew what was going well, where they needed to respond, and how their work was affecting the customer experience.
More than gamification
Each team created its own dashboard, complete with team photos and a visual theme.
It might sound like a small detail, but it changed how the dashboards felt. They belonged to the teams rather than being something created for them.
“It’s more than gamification. It’s identity. The teams actually bond with their dashboards.”
That sense of identity turned performance into something the teams could share. They could recognize progress, respond to problems, and work toward the same goals together.
For Woolworths MarketPlus, making performance visible hasn’t just helped teams move faster. It’s given agents and team leaders more ownership, helped improve customer satisfaction, and brought distributed teams closer together.
Make live Zendesk performance visible to your team
When agents and team leaders can see support performance throughout the day, they can respond earlier and keep the team on track.
Geckoboard brings live Zendesk data into clear, shared dashboards, so everyone can see what’s happening and act on it.
